Who

Like a Fool Returns To His Money

The first time I mentioned the game The Fool and His Money on this site was
in 2004. This game is the long-awaited sequel to Cliff Johnson’s classic
puzzle game Fool’s Errand. In that article, a review of Everett Kaser’s
Sherlock, I optimistically said
something about the game being released “later this fall.”

At the time I wrote those lines, I had already paid for the game. Johnson has
indicated he will list the names of people who pre-ordered the game in the
game itself, in the “Compendium of True Believers.” I bought the game, if I
recall correctly, shortly after it was announced in 2003. I am, in fact, True
Believer #14.

About every 6 months or so, Johnson would give an update about the game, and
(often) push back the release date a bit, often accompanying that with a new
target date. The Wikipedia
article on the game
gives the painful details. After a while, some of us who followed the progress
of the game began to suspect that the game’s title, The Fool and His Money
was more of a commentary on those of us who bought it, than on the game
itself.

In 2006, Johnson pushed the game back again, promising to deliver it by
“December 4th”. At this point I wrote to him:

Cliff,

As one of your early true believers, who loves you like Scooby loves Shaggy,
I have some unsolicited advice for you. For the love of god, STOP. GIVING.
NEW. RELEASE. DATES. Just stop. Cut it out. Cease. Desist. Send out a new
newsletter today, retract the December 4th date, and say “It’ll be done when
it’s done.”

Now, 6 years after the project was announced, something has happened that I
thought was unlikely: Johnson has released a demo (or, as he calls it showing
an incredibly tin ear to his position, a “teaser”) for the game. You can
download it. You can play it. It’s available for for both
Windows or
Macintosh.

The game itself feels like exactly what I was hoping for: more Fool’s
Errand. But prettier.

I’ll go into more detail on the actual content of the teaser next week. But
its release is worth an article all by itself. The temperature in Hell is
dropping, and dropping fast. Grab a copy of the teaser yourself before, like a
mirage at the edge of the desert, it vanishes.